


Day 11. Cruel | Drop of Brandy for a Wish

by steadycoffeeflow (Salimity)



Series: Inktober 2018 [11]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Halloween, I'm incapable of just writing something nice and not sad, Inktober 2018, Inspired by Roleplay/Roleplay Adaptation, Interior Decorating, Original Character(s), Roleplaying Character, Self-Insert Nonsense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-09-01 15:40:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16768030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salimity/pseuds/steadycoffeeflow
Summary: Staring into the darkness, she lingered on wanting to decorate. To do something. But it was that same cruelty - no one else in this neighborhood was doing it. To string up lights would be like putting up a beacon and inviting an investigation. Not one that necessarily started as a deviant hunt, but any attention was bad attention when you lived in a house of rogue androids.





	Day 11. Cruel | Drop of Brandy for a Wish

**Author's Note:**

> Rose belongs to [electroheartx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/electroheartx/pseuds/electroheartx).
> 
> Aria belongs to [xdottx](http://xdottx.tumblr.com/).
> 
> They are lovely and deserve the world, and possess my undying devotion.

There was something cruel in the fact that Halloween was one of Steady’s favorite holidays and that she was finally,  _ finally _ , in a house where she could decorate it without having some association come down on her head to tell her the decor was tacky, to take it down. Without having to share the decorations with family. Just her and her friends - they could do whatever they wanted.

Except they couldn’t.

No one else on the block was decorating their yards. Steady watched, curled up on the seat by the window, mug of hot brandy in her hands. There were leaves changing color on trees that had twisted through these past few decades, bark gritty and determined to stay alive despite mankind’s best efforts. But the houses looked too much like actual haunted houses. Specters walked up their cracked sidewalks to their front doors, if they even had front doors.

Sometimes a fire broke out in one of the buildings on the block and it burned for an uncomfortable while before someone was sent to put it out. Insurance claims on buildings bought dirt cheap.

It was fall, all right, but it wasn’t the fall Steady perked up for around this time of year.

She sipped the brandy, watching the lights of the city burn in the distance. Felt the burn within her. Hoped it would eat away at the excess within her so she could sleep.

Staring into the darkness, she lingered on wanting to decorate. To do something. But it was that same cruelty - no one else in this neighborhood was doing it. To string up lights would be like putting up a beacon and inviting an investigation. Not one that necessarily started as a deviant hunt, but any attention was bad attention when you lived in a house of rogue androids.

So Steady sat. And stared. And sipped. Stewed and simmered.

And when the sun came up, the brandy had gone cold and she was rare in the sunlight.

“You were up all night again?” Rose asked, voice soft. Steady uncurled her knees, felt the joints popped and winced. Rose was in the doorway of the study, a room with shelves built into the wall that Steady hadn’t quite fully populated with books yet. Had to leave them all in Detroit.

“Can we decorate the house?” Steady asked, tipping her head back against the window. She expected a solid no, for the reasons she’d debated against herself all night.

But instead, Rose smiled and Steady’s heart tripped a beat as the red head visually considered it. Ticked their head, put their knuckles to their chin, pulled their eyes to the side. “I don’t know. Aria might need some convincing.”

Steady nearly tipped over the mug, jostling it. Then curled in on herself. They both knew damned well Aria would love to decorate. And Steady was feeling the foolish sting of not having slept over something incredibly silly.

\---

There were lights strung up in the halls not visible by the windows, and Steady picked up plastic plates that had pumpkin on them. She planned on eating off of a few, but on others she cut them out and taped them around the house. On the doors that were covered with chalkboard paint, Rose busied themself designing scenes with ghosts and pumpkins and gourds and cats and such  _ delights _ .

There was chalk on their arms and smudges on their nose - streaks of powdery blue in their red hair where they had brushed it back and out of the way.

Aria took to decorating immediately, eventually hauling Steady up to help the woman decorate her room, specifically  _ her _ room. And standing there, surveying the skulls and spiders and faux candles and darker colors with pops of orange that Steady loved, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this happy.

Well. No.

The thought sunk into her, well-water deep.

A couple years ago. 2038 had been a good year. Right before November hit.

_ “Miss. If you permit me saying so. To hell with the association. They can’t tell you what goes on inside the condo. _ ”

“Well!” Aria clapped her hands and rocked on the balls of her feet, hair swaying gently with the rocking motion. “What do you think, Steads?”

“ _You don’t have to call me Miss._ _Besides, it’s not the association that’ll be bothered. It’s okay, yeah? Maybe next year._ ”

Steady looked up to Aria, eyes suddenly stinging. Her happiness was sinking deeper. Slipping away and hurting as it descended, right into her gut.

“ _...here. Let me see those mums. And what you have there. _ ”

Aria glanced at Steady, then turned upon her, taking Steady’s hands in hers, careful, grip loose. “Steady? What’s wrong? Is it not okay?” In a lower whisper. “Did I overstep?”

_ "No, I-” _

“No.” Steady lowered her head.

“Aw... Come here.” And Steady was gathered up into Aria’s arms. Began to rock her with that same swaying motion.

_ Their hands brushed one another as Julia lifted the faux leaves from Steady’s hands, tear stained and crumpled, and picked up the mums off the floor. Scooped what spilt dirt she could into the foil-covered pot. “I’ll be downstairs if you need me.” _

“Wanna see how Rose is doing downstairs? Bet they've finished up the basement door. That was looking like the scariest one yet. Which reminds me, where the hell did Reese get off to? We can go find him too.”

Steady twisted her grip on Aria’s shirt, head still buried. “Thank you,” Steady managed. “Thank you this means so very much to me,” she struggled to get through the sentence without her voice cracking and breaking completely.

Aria patted the back of her head.

And the words not uttered were perhaps the most tender cruelty of all.


End file.
